US appeals court reopens Meta’s patent infringement lawsuit
In a recent development, the US Court of Appeals for the Northern District of California has reinstated a patent infringement lawsuit against Meta Platforms.
The US Court of Appeals for the Northern District of California has reinstated a patent infringement lawsuit against Meta Platforms. The lawsuit, filed by Dutch software company MasterObjects, claims that Meta infringed patents related to a system for auto-completing search prompts. The initial trial took place in Waco, Texas, where US District Judge Alan Albright construed disputed terms from the patents in favor of MasterObjects.
On 13 July 2021, the Texas court transferred the case to the Northern District of California, where US District Judge William Alsup, upon assignment, reinterpreted the patents, finding no infringement by Meta.
Nevertheless, despite Judge Alsup’s earlier determination in California that Meta did not infringe upon the patents, the recent decision by the US appeals court contradicts his findings. The appeals court held that Judge Alsup had misconstrued two key terms and wrongly disregarded MasterObjects’ proposed interpretation of a third term. As a result, the court has chosen to reverse the previous judgementment decision. Consequently, it demands that the case be remanded for further proceedings.
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